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TWO 


DISCOURSES 


DELIVERED    IX 


HOLLTS- STREET     MEETING-HOUSE, 


SUNDAY,  SEPT.  21,  1851. 


BY    THOMAS    STARR    KIN( 

PASTOR   OF   THE    CHURCH. 


•publtebrfc  lii»  Request. 


BOSTON: 

BENJAMIN     H.     ORE  E  X  K. 

124,  WASHINGTON  STREET. 
1851. 


TWO 


DISCOURSES 


DELIVERED    IN 


HOLLIS-STREET     MEETING-HOUSE, 


SUNDAY,  SEPT.  21,  1851. 


BY    THOMAS    STARR    KING, 

PASTOR   OF   THE    CHURCH. 


Request. 


BOSTON: 

BENJAMIN     H.     GREENE, 

124,  WASHINGTON  STREET. 
1851. 


BOSTON  : 

PRINTED   BY   JOHN   WILSON    AND   SON, 
22,  SCHOOL  STREET. 


DISCOURSE     I, 


PEOV.  xvi.  9:  — "A   MAN'S   HEART   DEVISETH   HIS   WAY;    BUT  THE  LORD 

DIRECTETH    HIS     STEPS." 


IT  is  true,  not  only  that  God  sometimes  over 
rules  the  evil  which  men  create  to  some  good 
result,  but  also  that  he  always  bends  the 
good  they  achieve  to  some  better  offices  than 
the  agent  could  have  conceived.  Men  are  ever 
"working  together  with  God/7  Our  action 
becomes  implements  for  his  providence ;  and, 
although  we  are  free,  so  that  every  heart  de- 
viseth  its  own  way,  we  often  see  clearly  how 
our  toil,  instead  of  ending  with  the  result 
before  our  own  desire,  plays,  like  the  mecha 
nic7  s  cog-wheel,  into  a  vaster  wheel,  whose 
roll  carries  a  great  and  beneficent  design  of 
Heaven.  Here,  indeed,  is  a  prominent  element 

M175614 


in  the  glory  of  goodness,  that  we  do  not  know, 
and  cannot  prophesy,  where  its  blessed  se 
quences  will  end.  We  fling  out  the  tokens  of 
our  fidelity  to  become  instruments  of  God,  and 
he  alone  knows  what  purposes  in  his  rule  they 
are  competent  to  serve;  he  alone  can  foresee 
what  a  family  of  benefits  will  be  their  lineage. 
And,  ah!  is  it  not  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
warnings  against  unfaithfulness  to  right,  that 
the  consequences  are  not  limited  to  ourselves, 
but  that  such  agency  undulates,  we  cannot 
know  how  far,  and  spreads  the  power  of  the 
prince  of  darkness  in  society,  instead  of  start 
ing,  as  it  might,  if  obedient  to  the  higher 
voice,  a  train  of  blessings,  which  God  had  laid 
near  our  will  ? 

The  old  prophets,  for  instance,  were  not  far- 
sighted  enough  to  see  the  effect  of  their  words 
upon  the  intellect  and  heart  of  after-times. 
They  supposed  that  the  greatness  and  limit  of 
their  office  were  reached  in  announcing  the 
approach  of  some  judgment  or  mercy  upon 
their  Hebrew  race.  But  it  turns  out,  that 
their  fidelity  to  a  perilous  summons,  and  the 


sublime  and   tender  language  in  which  they 
clothed  their  messages  of  doom  or  love,  remain 
long  after  the  events  they  promised  are  for 
gotten,  and  kindle  the  religious  sensibilities  of 
generations  whose  advent  was  concealed  from 
their  eye.     How^  could  David  imagine  that  the 
prayers  for  aid  to  which  the  forest -leaves  of 
Hareth  stirred,  and  the  trustful  hymns  which 
filled  the  dim  caves  of  Adullam,  and  the  rap 
turous  odes  which  he  sent  from  his  palace  to 
be  chanted  in  the  tabernacle  on  Mount  Zion, 
and  the  penitential  breathings  that   brought 
back  the  divine  presence  to  his  breast,  should 
be  used  as  part  of  Christian  worship  in  the 
cities  of  an  unknown  hemisphere,  and  furnish 
the   souls    of  millions,   of   all    latitudes   and 
times  and  tongues,  with  a  liturgy  of  devotion, 
gratitude,  remorse,    and  hope?     Had    David 
been  an  irreligious  man,  had  he  never  prayed, 
and  sung,  and  wept  for  sin,  what  a  sad  blank 
wrould  be  left  in  the  forces  of  civilization !  how 
many  thousands  less  would  have  known  the 
peace  of  communion  with  God!  how  different 
might  be  your  condition  and  mine !     His  heart 


6 

devised  the  utterance  of  aspiration  and  en 
deavor  as  a  private  necessity,  and  God  directed 
their  agency  to  the  help  of  countless  needy 
souls. 

In  secular  affairs,  also,  it  is  so.  Little  did 
the  men  who  went  up  to  die  at  Thermopylae 
conceive  for  what  they  were  to  die.  It  was 
not  merely  to  prevent  the  Persian  yoke  from 
weighing  upon  their  brethren :  their  swords 
were  to  open  a  path  for  the  advent  of  the 
tragedies  of  Sophocles,  the  studio  of  Phidias, 
the  Parthenon  and  Plato,  from  the  ideal  realm 
of  possibilities  into  the  domain  of  history: 
they  went  up  to  die  for  the  classic  culture  of 
the  world.  Little  did  Columbus  know  of  the 
importance  of  the  hour  when  the  western  land 
broke  the  dim  horizon  through  the  morning 
twilight  of  October.  The  pilot  of  the  "May 
flower"  could  not  estimate  the  freight  she 
bore.  Feebly  did  Luther  fancy  the  conse 
quences  of  his  defiance  of  the  papal  edict,  and 
his  tearing  off  the  monkish  cowl.  And  what 
a  slight  and  incompetent  idea  did  the  wisest 
of  our  fathers  entertain  of  the  meaning  and 


promise  of  their  heroism,  when,   less  than  a 
century  ago,  they  kindled  with  their  eloquence 
the  flame  of  revolution  upon  this  continent, 
and  deliberately  cut  the  last  bond  that  knit 
them  to  a  throne  beyond  the  sea !     Something 
very  suggestive  was  there  in  the  appearance  of 
those  two  veterans  of  the  Revolution  in  the 
pageant  which,  two  days  ago,  moved  through 
our   streets;    something  to   touch   the  secret 
springs  of  our  wonder  and  gratitude.     Their 
tremulous  frames  were  the  visible  link  of  all 
the  pomp  of  that  spectacle  to  the  most  critical 
season  of  our  history.      I  know  not  on  what 
fields  they  fought,   or  what  exploits  in  their 
country's  service  they  can  relate ;  but  their  pre 
sence  was  a  thrilling   admonition  to  fidelity 
to  duty.     Must  it   not  have  seemed  strange 
to  them,  strange  as  the  legends  of  enchant 
ment,  that  they  should  live  to  see  such  fruitage 
from  their  labor !     Is  it  improbable  that  they 
thought,   as   they  might  well  have   thought, 
while  their  carriage  was  threading   our   ave 
nues,  "This,  then,  is  the  echo  of  our  valor; 
this,  the  offspring  of  the  blood  with  which  our 


8 

comrades  stained  the  soil,  as  they  fell,  long 
years  ago,  at  our  side.  We  took  our  muskets 
to  defend  our  rights,  and  show  that  we  would 
not  bear  the  shadow  of  oppression:  we  ima 
gined  we  were  pledging  our  toils  for  our  own 
advantage,  and  THIS  has  come  of  it,  —  cities 
like  this,  crowded  with  plenty,  and  blessed 
with  peace, — freedom  and  dignity  for  labor; 
the  myriad-handed  genius  of  industry  ever 
busy,  under  the  free  sky,  for  the  welfare  of  a 
nation ;  a  citizen  soldiery ;  rulers  without 
decoration  or  titles  conferred  by  birth;  and 
for  every  child  of  the  humblest  and  poorest, 
the  privilege  of  education  and  the  opportunity 
to  rise  to  the  highest  influence  and  honor. 
Neither  we  nor  our  captains  intended  such 
grand  results  as  these. "  No ;  but  Providence 
decreed  that  they  should  follow,  if  the  men  of 
the  Eevolution  were  faithful  to  their  task. 
Alas!  how  poorly  off  should  we  be,  if  we 
depended  on  human  foresight  to  project  all 
even  of  our  social  blessings ;  if  we  could  have 
nothing  and  expect  nothing  but  what  the  wis 
dom  of  men  can  devise  and  consciously  strive 


9 

after ;  if  there  were  not  a  veiled  wisdom,  will, 
and  mercy  to  superintend  and  compass  all 
our  ways,  and  bend  our  best  efforts  to  pur 
poses  beyond  the  intention  of  our  will!  We 
cannot  be  grateful  to  our  ancestors,  without 
recognizing  a  higher  Benefactor,  and  lifting 
our  praises  and  thanksgiving  to  his  throne. 
He  has  done  for  us,  in  addition  to  our  fathers7 
labors,  more  than  they  could  have  conceived  it 
possible  to  effect :  he  arranged  a  great  plan  of 
beneficence  to  which  their  heroism  gave  the 
impetus.  Their  hearts  devised  their  way ;  but 
the  Infinite  Goodness  directed  their  steps,  and 
we  now  dwell  and  rejoice  in  the  manifestations 
of  that  bounty. 

The  mention  of  the  spectacle  that  recently 
adorned  our  streets  leads  us  to  some  especially 
appropriate  illustrations  of  our  theme.  We 
have  entered  into  a  period  of  society  which 
will  be  characterized  hereafter  as  the  Indus 
trial  Age.  It  is  plain  that,  about  fifty  years 
ago,  a  new  direction  was  given  to  human 
affairs,  a  new  force  uprose  in  civilization,  and 
different  objects  loomed  ahead  to  draw  the 


10 

energies  of  the  world.  The  subjugation  of 
nature ;  the  increase  of  material  conveniences 
and  comfort;  the  binding  of  nations  together 
by  communion  of  traffic;  the  conquest  of 
space,  and  compression  of  time,  -  -  these  are 
what  the  civilized  world  is  now  beginning  to 
be  in  earnest  about.  It  is  looking  to  labor, 
not  to  armies  and  diplomacy,  for  its  resource 
in  the  accomplishment  of  its  dearest  ambition. 
Not  Mars,  nor  Apollo,  nor  even  Mammon,  but 
Vulcan,  stands  pre-eminent  in  its  regard  in 
the  pantheon  of  its  deities. 

It  is  often  the  case  that  the  drift  and  wor 
ship  of  an  epoch  are  revealed  in  some  one 
enterprise,  and  condensed  in  one  brilliant 
scene.  Such  a  symbolic  scene  this  year  has 
numbered  among  its  events.  The  CRYSTAL 
PALACE,  on  the  bank  of  the  Thames,  is  a  mag 
nificent  temple,  born  out  of  the  heart  of  this 
century,  dedicated  to  its  living  God,  and  filled 
with  the  offerings  of  its  worship. 

"  Out  of  Thought's  interior  sphere 
Those  wonders  rose  to  upper  air." 

Not  more  clearly  do  the  sombre  Pyramids,  or 


11 

the  battered  face  and  sand  -  imbedded  gro- 
tesqueness  of  the  Sphinx,  reveal  to  us  the 
reverence  of  the  old  dwellers  by  the  Nile ;  nor 
the  massive  aqueducts,  the  ruined  Coliseum, 
and  military  roads,  indicate  the  favorite  ideas 
of  the  imperial  Romans ;  nor  the  lovely  ruins  of 
the  Parthenon,  and  fragments  of  immortal 
sculpture,  tell,  as  it  were,  in  sighs  and  sobs  of 
music,  of  wThat  Greece  once  delighted  to  do, 
than  the  various  wonders  beneath  that  vast 
roof,  -  -  the  multitudinous  triumphs  of  skill, 
industry,  and  genius,  collected  from  myriad 
workshops  that  send  their  smoke  into  the  sky 
of  Europe  and  the  new  hemisphere,  —  pro 
claim  our  worship  of  the  physical  forces,  which, 
under  the  guidance  of  cunning  hands,  will 
insure  perfection  of  product  and  dominion 
over  the  world. 

Worship  is  the  only  word  that  is  deep 
enough  to  express  the  Anglo-Saxon  relation 
to  the  mechanic  powers  and  arts.  We  revere 
what  they  can  produce  more  than  any  .thing 
else.  Take  us  as  a  race,  we  love  speed  and 
perfection  in  the  necessary  fabrics  of  life, 


12 


and  skill  in  the  combination  of  powers  that 
give  supremacy  over  nature,  better  than  we 
love  wealth,  comfort,  leisure,  knowledge  of 
God's  world,  a  cultured  manliness,  and  reli 
gious  nobility  and  peace.  It  should  seem  that 
we  must  be  lineal  descendants  of  Bezaleel,  the 
son  of  Uri,  the  son  of  Hur,  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah,  "who,"  as  we  read  in  the  book  of  Exo 
dus,  was  selected  from  Moses'  camp,  and 
"filled  with  the  spirit  of  God  to  devise  cun 
ning  works,  to  work  in  gold  and  in  silver  and 
in  brass,  and  in  cutting  of  stones  to  set  them, 
and  in  carving  of  timber,  to  work  in  all  man 
ner  of  workmanship."  Our  inspiration  is  of 
that  nature,  and  for  such  ends.  Human  na 
ture  itself  we  estimate  of  less  account  than 
the  material  products  it  can  create. 

I  have  sometimes  imagined  another  crystal 
palace  placed  near  the  great  receptacle  of  the 
world's  labor,  and  filled  with  typical  selections 
from  the  laborers  that  produced  those  things. 
Ah!  what  a  commentary  would  it  furnish 
upon  our  religion  and  the  love  of  our  neighbor, 
to  pass  from  the  hall  of  the  results  to  the 


13 

inclosure  of  the  workers,  —  to  see  the  squalor, 
the  degradation,  the  miserable  poverty,  the 
unprotected  disease,  the  carelessness  of  any 
refinement,  the  worn  and  distorted  frames, 
half-fed  and  scantily  clothed,  the  lack  of  glee 
in  childhood,  the  absence  of  hope  in  maternal 
eyes,  the  feeble  gleams  of  the  noble  traits  of 
our  humanity  in  the  faces  of  all,  men,  women, 
and  children  ;  to  whose  steady  toil  from  dawn 
till  dark,  -  -  with  scarce  a  respite  through  the 
years,  till  the  drained  and  crippled  body  drops 
useless  into  the  grave,  -  -  those  triumphs  of 
skill  are  due  !  And  yet,  with  such  a  palace  in 
open  contrast  to  the  great  storehouse  of  indus 
try,  no  doubt  the  verdict  of  our  working  race 
in  Europe  would  be,  "We  will  have  the  pro 
ducts  at  that  price."  Practically,  they  do  say 
that  now.  They  know  all  those  miseries ;  and 
they  say,  "We  will  pay  the  human  faculty 
for  the  material  product  it  may  create;  we 
love  coal  at  five  dollars  a  ton  more  than  the 
miner's  manhood  and  domestic  comfort,  if  they 
add  another  shilling  to  its  price ;  we  must 
have  cheap  garments,  though  the  children  of 


14 

the  widow-seamstress  cry  for  food ;  pins  must 
be  perfect,  though  fifty  thousand  men  be  turned 
into  mere  pendents  of  the  machine  that  makes 
them  so ;  fabrics  must  be  woven  at  the  lowest 
possible  rate,  even  if  the  factory-bell  summon 
feeble  children  from  the  school-room,  and  the 
continual  roar  of  the  mill  drown  every  thought 
of  duty  and  of  heaven;  laces  must  not  ad 
vance  in  price,  nor  lose  in  elegance,  though  the 
needle-woman  be  forced  to  stitch  her  honor 
and  the  peace  of  life  into  the  tender  mesh,  to 
prolong  her  existence  in  a  hostile  and  desolate 
world. 

Selfishness,  competition,  rivalry,  are,  as  yet, 
the  springs  of  the  industry  of  Christendom ; 
and  yet,  see  how  the  doctrine  of  the  proverb  is 
supported  even  here;  see  how  a  providential 
good  rises  out  of  the  strife  of  human  wit  and 
trade.  It  is  better  for  the  poor  workers,  that 
there  be  such  half-paid  toil  than  war.  It  is 
better  for  their  manhood  and  the  hopes  of 
their  children,  that  they  strain  their  sinews 
in  mines,  at  forges,  and  by  looms,  and  live 
in  poorly  warmed  huts  and  with  stinted  fami- 


15 

lies,  than  be  drilled  to  the  murderous  business 
of  the  battle-field,  and  pass  their  days  in  the 
camp,  where  there  are  no  domestic  influences 
at  all.  Despite  the  oppression  that  underlies 
our  industry,  "the  World7 s  Fair'7  strikes  a 
great  blow  for  international  peace,  teaching 
countries  that  there  is  a  nobler  arena  of  con 
flict  and  emulation  than  the  field  of  blood ;  it 
awakens  industrial  ambition  and  pride ;  it  con 
vinces  thousands  that  it  is  better  to  tear  the 
earth  with  ploughs  than  with  cannon,  and  to 
try  which  people  can  excel  in  swift  steam 
ships,  flying  yachts,  locks  that  defy  the 
burglar,  and  machines  that  make  the  reapers 
cheer  for  joy.  Until  now,  the  nations  have 
striven  to  see  how  they  could  pile  the  largest 
holocaust  to  the  demon  of  war,  and  keep  a 
relative  superiority  by  means  of  destruction  and 
devastation :  but  the  rivalry  of  commerce  and 
industry  is  found  to  be  more  profitable  and  no 
less  exciting  than  that  of  butchery;  and  out 
of  the  shrewd  contest  of  the  mercantile  and 
industrial  arena,  and  out  of  the  miseries  of  the 
laborers,  Providence  draws  the  possibility  of  a 


16 

congress  of  nations,  -  -  "  the  United  States  of 
Europe/'  -  -  and  leads  statesmen  to  talk  of  the 
barbarity  of  battle,  and  use  with  hesitation 
the  threat  of  war. 

In  the  recent  jubilee  and  the  closing  pageant 
within  our  city,  an  illustration  is  given  how 
God  draws  the  good  of  a  higher  sphere  out  of 
the  benefits  that  lie  in  a  lower  order.  That 
pageant  was  in  honor  of  the  completion  of 
many  years'  endeavor  to  perfect  the  inter 
course  of  the  metropolis  of  New  England 
and  our  own  neighborhood  with  the  North 
and  West.  The  causal  motive  of  the  en 
terprise  that  has  covered  New  England  with 
nerves,  of  which  our  city  is  the  brain,  was 
not  distinctly  philanthropic.  Perhaps  it  was 
chiefly  selfish.  Each  line  of  road  was  schemed 
with  direct  reference  to  the  return  of  interest 
on  the  investment,  and  the  securing  of  a  larger 
trade  within  our  streets.  Not  till  the  prospect 
of  profit  was  clear  could  one  of  these  under 
takings  be  carried  through.  It  was  not  the 
direct  intention  of  a  single  board  of  directors 
of  a  single  railroad  company  to  do  a  specially 


17 

Christian  deed,  in  inviting  to  their  scheme,  — 
to  bind  states  and  communities  together  in 
holier  ties,  to  diffuse  a  spirit  of  good-will,  and 
strengthen  civilization.  The  stockholders,  as 
they  subscribed  and  paid  their  instalments, 
had  no  such  motive  and  purpose.  The  plans 
and  the  acceptance  of  them  were  for  divi 
dends  and  wealth. 

But  Providence  had  another  and  a  higher  use 
for  those  iron  tracks  and  flying  trains.  After 
the  mercantile  heart  had  devised  and  secured 
them,  God  took  them  for  his  purposes  :  without 
paying  any  tax  for  the  privilege,  he  uses  them 
to  quicken  the  activity  of  men ;  to  send  energy 
and  vitality  where  before  were  silence  and  bar 
renness  ;  to  multiply  cities  and  villages,  studded 
with  churches,  dotted  with  schools,  and  filled 
with  happy  homes  and  budding  souls ;  to  in 
crease  wealth  which  shall  partially  be  devoted 
to  his  service  and  kingdom,  and  all  along  their 
banks  to  make  the  wilderness  blossom  as  the 
rose.  Without  any  vote  of  permission  from 
legislatures  and  officials,  —  even  while  the  cars 
are  loaded  with  profitable  freight  and  paying 

3 


18 


passengers,  and  the  groaning  engines  are 
earning  the  necessary  interest,  -  -  Providence 
sends,  without  charge,  its  cargoes  of  good  sen 
timent  and  brotherly  feeling;  disburses  the 
culture  of  the  city  to  the  simplicity  of  the  ham 
let,  and  brings  back  the  strength  and  virtue  of 
the  village  and  mountain  to  the  wasting  facul 
ties  of  the  metropolis ;  and  fastens  to  every 
steam-shuttle,  that  flies  back  and  forth  and 
hither  and  thither,  an  invisible  thread  of  fra 
ternal  influence,  which,  entwining  sea-shore 
and  hill-country,  mart  and  grain-field,  forge 
and  factory,  wharf  and  mine,  slowly  prepares 
society  to  realize,  one  day,  the  Saviour's 
prayer,  "  that  they  all  may  be  one."  The 
beneficent  genius  of  the  age  keeps  his  special 
and  invisible  express,  laden  with  packages  of 
providential  blessings,  upon  every  train  that 
runs  through  our  communities ;  and  it  seems, 
as  the  cars  fly  along  the  avenues  which  selfish 
traffic  has  created,  that  the  villages,  which  are 
everywhere  threaded  like  beads  along  the  iron 
wires,  are,  to  use  the  language  of  another, 
"counted  off  by  the  spirit  of  our  age  as  so 


19 

many  pater-nosters  upon  its  rosary,  in  its  swift 
worship  of  gratitude  for  the  dawn  of  the  age 
of  peace." 

Honest  labor,  of  all  kinds,  although  stimu 
lated  by  private  interest,  does  an  unselfish 
good.  "  Labor  is  not  a  devil,  even  when  en 
cased  in  mammonism.  Labor  is  ever  an 
imprisoned  god,"  and  will  contrive,  over  and 
above  the  narrow  task  for  which  it  is  paid  in 
money,  to  do  some  gratuitous  service  for  truth 
and  heaven.  It  is  good  that  mountains  shall 
be  graded,  ledges  blasted,  fair  roads  built, 
deserts  fertilized,  mud  swamps  filled,  marshes 
drained,  and  machinery  invented ;  and,  just  as 
fast  as  they  are  accomplished,  better  results 
than  thrifty  enterprise  had  in  view  supervene. 
There  is  more  intelligence,  more  generosity, 
more  enjoyment,  more  advantages  for  securing 
the  great  ends  of  human  life.  "  The  unre 
deemed  ugliness  is  that  of  a  slothful  people. 
Show  me  a  people  energetically  busy,  even 
when  worldly  motives  are  the  only  springs  of 
it,  heaving,  struggling,  all  shoulders  at  the 
wheel ;  their  heart  pulsing,  every  muscle 


20 

swelling  with  man's  energy  and  will ;  I  will 
show  you  a  people  of  whom  great  good  may  be 
prophesied,  to  whom  all  manner  of  good  is  yet 
certain,  if  their  energy  endure."  The  Chris 
tian  religion  never  will  flourish  in  purity  and 
power  among  an  unenterprising  and  unthrifty 
race. 

I  presume  it  is  the  simple  truth,  that  the 
recent  jubilee  was  called  into  being  by  the  fact 
that  Boston  has  made  good  its  stand,  as  an 
independent  force,  against  the  commercial 
rivalry  and  absorbing  centrality  of  New  York ; 
and  that,  by  means  of  the  recently  finished 
lines  of  railroad,  the  trade  of  the  Canadas  will 
be  attracted  to  our  marts,  and  flour  brought 
here  a  few  cents  cheaper  on  a  barrel  than 
before.  Never  were  a  few  cents  so  splendidly 
honored ;  never  did  the  prospect  of  so  slight  a 
profit  do  nobler  service.  Can  any  thing  bear 
more  brilliant  testimony  to  the  worship  we 
pay  to  material  forces,  and  the  supreme  esti 
mate  we  put  upon  material  triumphs,  than 
that  such  a  spring  could  stimulate  such  enthu 
siasm,  and  carry  such  a  complex  machinery  of 


21 

show  ?  And  yet,  how  the  mercenary  and  com 
mercial  origin  was  dropped  from  the  spectacle, 
and  even  banished  from  memory !  The  titled 
ruler  of  the  Canadas,  with  his  retinue,  comes 
to  visit  us ;  and  the  talk  is  not  of  traffic,  but 
of  fellowship  in  blood.  The  official  word  of 
welcome  and  pledge  of  hospitality  are  re 
sponded  to  by  the  sincere  compliment,  the 
expression  of  astonishment  at  our  prosperity 
and  blessings,  and  the  hope  that  the  two  kin 
dred  nations  may  dwell  in  perpetual  peace. 
The  streets  are  studded  with  generous  mottoes, 
the  speakers  at  the  feast  inspired  with  noblest 
sentiments,  and  the  language  of  bargain  and 
sale  would  jar  the  harmonies  of  the  time.  It 
is  encouraging  to  the  philanthropist  to  com 
pare  the  procession  of  the  trades  with  the 
spectacles  that,  in  former  ages,  bore  witness 
to  popular  joy.  When  a  Eoman  general  w^as 
honored  and  welcomed  by  the  city,  it  was  with 
grim  ranks  of  paid  soldiery,  files  of  chariots, 
long  lines  of  desolate  captives,  and  the  brutal 
excitements  of  the  gladiatorial  show\  If  a 
city  would  be  merry  in  the  middle  ages,  the 


22 

tournaments  must  be  projected^  and  chivalrous 
duels  delight  the  eyes  of  lordly  and  lady 
guests.  When  before,  to  honor  eminent  dig 
nitaries,  have  the  artisans  been  called  from 
their  tasks  and  toil  as  the  right  arm  of 
strength,  and  the  triumphs  of  their  skill  been 
selected  as  the  noblest  exhibitions  of  civil 
greatness  and  the  chief  reasons  of  pride  ?  Can 
it  be  without  important  social  consequences 
that  so  many  intelligent  Englishmen  have 
been  thus  welcomed,  and  have  gone  back  to 
the  provinces  of  our  mother  -  country  with  a 
deep  impression  of  what,  under  the  spur  of 
our  free  suffrage,  we  are  doing  for  the  improve 
ment  of  our  soil,  the  wealth  of  our  community, 
and  the  education  of  every  child  born  into  our 
protection  ?  In  striving  for  a  wider  field  of 
traffic,  we  have  built  a  ladder  of  iron,  upon 
which  our  ideas  and  blessings  shall  yet  climb 
into  the  Canadas.  Such  a  three  days  will  do 
far  more  for  the  progress  of  freedom  than  a 
three-days7  revolution  like  that  which  France 
saw  in  1830,  and  which  intoxicated  the  world 
with  a  fallacious  hope.  Never  was  commer- 


23 


cial  motive  so  dignified  by  unselfish  fruit; 
never  was  the  mercenary  project  of  man  more 
brilliantly  enrobed  with  a  providential  mean 
ing,  office,  and  worth ! 

The  visit  of  our  own  excellent  Chief  Magis 
trate  and  his  Cabinet  bore  witness,  by  the 
speed  with  which  they  reached  our  city  from 
the  capital,  to  the  effects  of  these  material 
benefits  in  making  our  countrymen  acquainted 
with  each  other,  and  in  cementing  their  fellow 
ship.  Those  who  indulge  fears  for  the  stability 
of  our  nation  on  account  of  the  extent  of  its 
domain,  and  who  justify  those  fears  by  the 
recorded  fortunes  of  ancient  empires  that  were 
broken  by  the  weight  of  their  territories,  do 
not  appreciate  the  difference  between  our 
condition  and  theirs,  in  a  representative  go 
vernment  and  provincial  independence.  And 
yet,  admirably  devised  as  our  scheme  of  go 
vernment  is  to  promise  central  vigor  and 
permanence,  and  to  avoid  the  perils  that 
spring  from  breadth  of  territory,  diversity  of 
climate,  variety  in  habits,  prejudices,  and  the 
scale  of  culture,  and  the  conflict  of  material 


24 

and  social  interests,  it  is  very  doubtful  whether 
its  present  extent  would  not  prove  too  vast  for 
the  resources  of  our  Constitution,  if  we  had 
been  left  to  the  old  means  of  communication 
and  intercourse.  The  framers  of  our  national 
charter  would  have  considered  the  idea  of 
bringing  the  shores  of  both  oceans  under  its 
sway,  and  keeping  their  inhabitants  in  peace 
ful  and  fraternal  communion,  scarcely  less 
than  preposterous ;  and,  with  mail-coaches  for 
the  only  conveyance  to  Utah,  and  barques 
doubling  Cape  Horn  as  the  swiftest  mediators 
between  Washington  and  San  Francisco,  the 
attempt  would  be  almost  useless.  But,  when 
California  may  be  brought  within  one  week's 
distance,  and  the  pioneers  of  Iowa  and  the 
planters  by  the  Eio  Grande  may  hear  the  de 
bates  that  affect  their  interests  in  the  capital 
before  the  speakers  reach  their  perorations,  a 
new  principle  is  introduced  which  must  modify 
all  calculations  of  national  security  drawn  from 
the  infirmity  of  Athens  and  the  decline  of 
Rome.  Steam  and  the  magnetic  wires  compel 
the  correction  of  our  political  philosophy ;  and, 


25 


if  there  be  a  pre-eminent  value  in  the  structure 
of  our  civil  constitution;  if  it  be  a  worthy 
subject  for  rejoicing  that  the  breadth  of  a  con 
tinent  should  be  brought  under  its  sway,  and 
exhibit  to  the  world  the  lasting  triumph  of  the 
experiment  of  republican  freedom,  on  a  larger 
scale  than  any  upon  which  imperial  despotisms 
have  yet  displayed  their  transient  strength, 
our  gratitude  is  not  more  certainly  due  to 
Providence  for  the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of 
Washington,  Hamilton,  Franklin,  and  Adams, 
than  it  is  for  the  genius  of  Watt,  the  ingenuity 
of  Fulton,  and  the  mercantile  energy  which 
has  threaded  our  forests  with  rail-tracks,  and 
disturbed  our  waters  with  steam-ships  that 
conquer  tides  and  storms. 

Indications  of  the  value  of  our  neighborhood 
in  time  are  already  apparent.  That  eloquent 
and  most  noble  speech  from  the  Secretary  of 
the  Interior,  in  our  State  House,  was  to  me  the 
most  important  and  suggestive  event  occa 
sioned  by  the  festival.  By  the  good  it  will  do, 
it  will  trebly  repay  all  the  money  appropriated 
by  the  city.  Its  frank  and  generous  conces- 

4 


26 

sions  of  uur  thrift  and  prosperity  cannot  be 
without  effect  in  restoring  to  New  England, 
and  especially  to  Massachusetts,  its  proper  in 
fluence  upon  the  sentiments  and  ideas  of  the 
nation.  It  is  a  solemn  declaration  to  our 
Southern  confederates,  that  we  are  in  the 
proper  path  to  strength  and  power;  that  we 
are  in  harmony  with  the  American  idea.  Such 
a  speech  from  the  lips  of  a  discriminating,  un 
prejudiced  resident  of  the  South  does  more 
against  slavery  than  all  the  infatuated  dis- 
unionists  can  do  in  a  century.  The  voice  of 
friendly  and  unimpassioned  wisdom,  pointing 
to  the  social  and  industrial  results  of  their 
institution,  will  impress  them  more  effectually 
with  its  radical  injustice  than  the  boom  of 
indignation  borne  to  them  from  afar. 

We  have  a  country  immense  in  extent,  and 
ruled  in  its  different  parts,  as  yet,  by  different 
ideas.  To  be  strongly  and  permanently  united, 
we  must  have  more  than  great  statesmen  in 
the  Cabinet,  and  a  loyal  army  and  navy  at 
command,  to  coerce  South  Carolina :  we  must 
come  into  some  unity  of  political  and  social 


life ;  we  must  not  be  separate  nations,  one 
part  pledged  by  passion  and  fancied  interest 
to  the  support  and  extension  of  bondage,  and 
another  part  determined  to  resist  that  spread. 
Antagonistic  sentiments  and  principles  must 
not  separate  us.  Titanic  strength  of  intellect 
in  our  leaders  cannot  throw  a  bridge  across 
that  chasm.  Iron  rails  cannot  clamp  the  ter 
ritory  whose  principles  refuse  fellowship,  and 
struggle  for  despotic  supremacy.  Unity  of 
ideas  must  be  our  bond  and  stay.  The  ten 
dency  to  such  unity  is  our  only  hope.  The 
love  of  freedom,  and  the  belief  in  its  superior 
benefits,  must  be  shed  into  our  brethren  of 
the  South,  not  by  our  interference  with  their 
affairs,  nor  by  indiscriminate  denunciations  of 
their  sin,  but  by  the  silent,  steady  example 
of  our  New  England.  Character,  national  as 
well  as  private,  must  exert  an  influence  ac 
cording  to  the  measure  of  its  strength,  so  soon 
as  you  put  it  in  vital  communion  with  the 
world.  And  so  every  railroad  that  opens  a 
path  into  the  heart  of  our  territory,  and  has 
tens  the  traveller  on  his  way  to  our  domain,  is 


28 

an  influence  for  freedom,  a  friendly  force  to  the 
rights  of  the  slave.  We  say,  "  Come,  and  see 
what  freedom  has  done  for  us;  how  it  has 
covered  our  grim  rocks  with  fertile  soil,  filled 
our  harbors  with  wealth,  called  up  cities  by 
our  river-banks,  wakened  the  roar  of  myriad 
looms,  dropped  a  school-house  in  every  district, 
and  set  a  church  as  a  beacon  of  heavenly  light 
upon  every  hill.  Come  and  see,  by  our  peace, 
energy,  plenty,  and  opulence,  which  is  the 
path  of  power;  and  consider  how  your  own 
rich  soil  would  be  loaded  with  fertility,  your 
waste  places  become  green  cities,  and  your 
cities  be  filled  with  busy  life,  and  every  element 
of  prosperity  bless  you  abundantly,  if,  like  us, 
you  would  banish  from  your  communities  that 
which,  in  every  age,  has  proved  itself  the 
paralysis  of  energy  and  the  canker  of  all  civi 
lization,  and  regain,  through  justice,  the  divine 
path  to  power."  Henceforth,  New  England 
must  preach  for  freedom  and  free  soil  by  her 
example  and  her  work,  and  her  influence  will 
travel  on  the  lines  of  iron  and  the  threads  of 
wire,  which  private  interest  has  laid,  into  the 


29 

most  distant  portions  of  our  land,  and,  by 
reform  of  public  sentiment,  at  last  strike  the 
fetters  from  the  slave. 

Reserving  for  a  second  discourse  the  more 
practical  aspects  of  our  subject,  we  should  thus 
see,  in  closing,  that  God  uses  these  material 
conquests  of  our  land  to  impress  upon  us  the 
value  of  union,  and  to  make  it  more  firm.  If 
we  would  exert  an  influence  in  favor  of  the 
bondmen  we  desire  to  aid  the  most,  we  must 
be  united.  If  we  would  not  disturb  the  inten 
tions  and  thwart  the  purposes  of  Providence, 
we  must  be  a  family  of  states ;  we  must  open 
anew  the  channels  of  brotherly  affection,  che 
rish  fraternal  sympathies,  and  feel  that,  as  a 
people,  upon  this  land  which  cannot  be  broken 
by  the  geographer  or  the  surveyor,  even  if  we 
are  insane  enough  to  seek  division,  we  have  all 
one  call,  one  mission,  one  destiny. 


DISCOURSE    II. 


LUKE,  xii.  15: — "A  MAN'S  LIFE  CONSISTETH  NOT  IN  THE  ABUNDANCE  OF 

THE   THINGS   WHICH    HE   POSSESSETH." 


THERE  is  a  radical  discrepancy  between  the  Ca 
tholic  and  the  Protestant  conceptions  of  civili 
zation  and  social  advancement.  This  difference 
of  ideas  makes  discussion  about  the  relative 
merits  of  the  two  churches,  in  respect  of  their 
influence  on  the  progress  of  the  race,  almost 
useless.  "See,"  says  the  Protestant,  "how, 
wherever  the  new  spirit  of  the  Eeformation  is 
welcomed  and  prevails,  public  energy  is  appa 
rent,  the  work  of  improvement  begins,  wealth 
increases,  genius  is  stimulated,  labor  is  more 
cunning  and  constant,  the  railroad  pierces  the 
forest,  and  the  shrill  steam-whistle  startles  the 
old  meditative  silence  of  the  hills.  Our  reli- 


31 


gion,"  the  Protestant  continues,  "lias  been  the 
parent  or  patron  of  freedom.  Human  rights 
are  more  sacred  where  the  papal  sway  is  denied, 
and  privileges  are  steadily  gaining  ground 
against  despotism.  Better  laws  and  order 
have  sprung  up  wherever  the  influence  of  Lu 
ther  has  been  felt ;  and  it  is  plain  that  man  is 
considered  a  nobler  being.  The  Protestant 
faith  was  compelled  to  take  the  colder  and 
wilder  North  countries  of  Europe  and  America, 
while  the  Catholic  held  dominion  over  the 
more  sunny,  cultivated,  fertile  South ;  and  look 
now  at  the  result  of  our  stewardship.  For 
three  centuries  we  have  had  in  charge  the 
rugged  North ;  for  fifteen  centuries  you  have 
held  full  sway  in  the  lower  climes,  -  -  and 
what  is  the  verdict  of  fact  upon  the  worth  of 
the  two  systems?  Eich,  powerful,  scientific, 
cultured  England  answers  for  our  principles, 
against  decrepit,  superstitious,  paralytic  Spain 
for  yours.  Scotland  appears  as  an  offset  to 
Ireland.  Protestant  Prussia,  with  its  popular 
education,  its  orderly  finances,  its  vigorous 
administration,  and  famous  universities,  faces 


32 

Catholic  Austria,  weak,  impoverished,  treache 
rous,  and  cruel,  upheld  in  its  despotic  haughti 
ness  by  foreign  ducats  and  the  bayonets  of  the 
Czar.  Snowy  Sweden  reveals  the  plenty,  vir 
tue,  and  thrift  of  her  people,  in  contrast  to  the 
dissolute  laziness  of  Naples,  and  the  hopeless 
ignorance  of  Portugal.  And  New  England 
stands  out,  the  brightest  spot  upon  the  chart  of 
civilization, — reclaimed  from  the  savage,  the 
wrolf,  and  the  deer,  while  Cuba  has  been  sinking 
under  a  despotism  that  cripples  its  resources, 
and  Mexico  has  been  rotting  into  incurable 
decay.  And  where,  too,'7  continues  the  Pro 
testant,  "can  you  bring  the  names  in  your  list 
of  genius  to  mate  Shakspeare  and  Schiller,  Ba 
con  and  Lessing,  Franklin  and  Fulton,  Watt 
and  Dalton,  Newton,  Goethe,  and  Guizot  ?  " 

It  seems  strange  to  us  Protestants,  that 
every  intelligent  Catholic  is  not  overwhelmed 
with  this  argument  against  his  faith.  When 
he  is  pointed  to  the  fact,  that  it  is  the  ally  of 
tyranny,  the  opponent  of  material  prosperity, 
the  foe  of  thrift,  the  enemy  of  the  railroad,  the 
caucus,  and  the  school,  we  wonder  that  he  does 


33 


not  read  in  its  results  the  condemnation  of  its 
principles,  and  abandon  it  for  a  more  inspiring 
religion.  But  Catholics,  able  and  learned,  are 
not  wanting  who  boldly  take  up  the  challenge, 
face  the  array  of  evidence,  and,  while  they 
confess  the  general  fairness  of  the  statement, 
deny  the  inference.  Protestantism,  they  tell 
us,  is  developing  a  type  of  civilization  that  is 
hostile  to  Christianity,  and  indeed  to  any 
religion.  "You  are  plunging  headlong  into 
materialism  and  atheism.  You  are  worship 
ping  this  world,  laboring  for  the  body,  pam 
pering  the  pride  of  the  intellect,  and,  in  your 
absorption  of  the  body's  needs,  forgetting  the 
soul  and  ignoring  heaven.  Your  materialistic 
civilization  is  a  tumor  that  has  drawn  to  itself 
all  the  life  that  should  be  proportionally  dis 
tributed  in  the  brain,  the  lungs,  and  the  heart. 
What  advantage  is  it  that  you  have  railroads 
through  every  valley,  and  corn  on  a  thousand 
hills;  that  you  have  charters  of  civil  liberty, 
and  all  the  means  of  worldly  success  and 
aggrandizement,  if  men  are  becoming  enslaved 
to  this  world,  and  faithless  as  to  a  higher 


34 

one  ?  l  A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the 
abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth ; ' 
our  church  makes  another  end  supreme,  and 
can  be  content  to  see  a  State  without  rail 
ways,  merchant-princes,  representative  govern 
ments,  and  restless  democracies,  if  the  people 
are  docile,  obedient  to  spiritual  authority,  and 
ambitious  of  heaven ;  if  they  confess,  and  are 
baptized,  and  die  in  full  communion.  Protest 
antism  is  raising  a  spirit  which  it  cannot 
master:  in  seeming  to  carry  civilization  on 
ward,  it  is  pushing  towards  an  intellectual 
barbarism;  while  our  church,  content  with 
slower  social  progress,  gives  the  people  more 
rest  and  happiness  on  earth,  and  fits  them  for 
the  skies/7  Accordingly,  it  has  been  seriously 
contended  by  an  eminent  Catholic,  in  a  Eeviewr 
published  in  this  city,  that  Ireland  is  in  a  far 
more  satisfactory  state  than  Massachusetts ; 
and  that  Lisbon  and  Madrid  are  more  truly 
civilized,  more  moral,  and  every  way  better  off, 
than  Boston  and  New  York. 

I    have    given    these    arguments    at    such 
length,  because  I  believe  they  are  wrorth  con- 


35 


sidering  fairly;  and,  if  so  considered,  will 
teach  us  much  valuable  truth.  The  Catholic 
certainly  slights  the  importance  and  worth  of 
the  material  side  of  civilization.  Man  was  put 
here  to  subdue  nature.  It  is  just  as  truly  a 
part  of  God's  call  to  men  to  lay  rail-tracks  as 
to  build  churches;  to  improve  steam-engines 
and  construct  pulleys ;  to  perfect  levers,  spin 
ning  jennies,  forges  and  looms ;  to  study  chemis 
try  and  geology,  optics  and  magnetism,  as  to 
erect  pulpits  and  revere  the  characters  of  saints. 
It  is  as  really  contrary  to  the  Divine  intent,  that 
stage-coaches  should  be  the  only  means  of  con 
veyance  where  there  is  wealth  and  skill  enough 
to  put  steam-cars  in  motion,  or  to  have  books 
multiplied  by  copyists  where  printing-presses 
can  be  invented,  or  to  be  governed  by  absolute 
kings  and  popes  when  constitutional  charters 
may  be  had  by  discreet  resistance,  as  it  is  con 
trary  to  His  will  that  there  should  be  sin  when 
virtue  is  possible,  or  bodily  suffering  when  it 
may  be  exchanged  for  health  and  pleasure. 
And  if  a  church  recoils  from  the  advance  of 
genius  and  triumphs  of  labor;  if  it  feels  un- 


36 


equal  to  the  task  of  guiding  such  efforts,  and 
refuses  to  sanction  them ;  if  it  plainly  prefers 
the  shelter  of  despotism  and  the  stagnation  of 
ignorance ;  if  it  looks  with  greater  affection 
upon  the  mediaeval  than  the  modern  centuries, 
and  has  no  other  ambition  for  the  people  than 
that  they  should  listen  to  the  chanting  of  mas 
ses,  obey  minute  directions  about  the  count 
ing  of  beads,  and  be  prepared  by  priests  for 
heaven,  -  -  it  is  sufficient  evidence  of  its  incom- 
petency  to  rule  the  future,  and  of  some  vital 
falsity.  Monasteries  and  monks  were  not  in 
tended  to  be  the  supreme  products  of  society 
on  earth,  even  as  the  shelter  and  the  types  of 
piety. 

But  there  is  much  truth,  and  much  that 
must  be  pondered,  in  what  the  Catholic  retorts 
about  the  relative  importance  of  machinery 
and  men,  material  progress  and  inward  cul 
ture.  "A  man's  life  does  not  consist  in  the 
abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth ;" 
nor  do  the  life  and  prosperity  of  society  lie  in 
its  physical  conquests,  material  conveniences, 
and  trophies  of  skill.  The  tunnelling  of  moun- 


37 


tains,  the  erection  of  telegraphs,  and  the  free 
supply  of  gas  and  water  to  cities,  are  all 
secondary  to  the  development  and  vigor  of 
men;  and  any  system  which  sacrifices  the 
last  to  the  first,  or  subordinates  it  to  the  first, 
or  postpones  it  in  favor  of  the  first,  is  as  par 
tial  as  the  Catholic  theory.  It  is  a  serious 
question,  therefore,  how  far  the  material 
achievements  of  our  age  injure  or  help  the 
development  of  our  spiritual  faculties,  and 
assist  or  embarrass  a  realization  of  the  high 
est  aim  of  life. 

Plainly  there  is  danger,  in  a  state  of  civili 
zation  like  ours,  that  we  may  under-estimate 
the  value  of  the  individual  spirit,  and  forget 
that  it  has  a  worth,  separate  from  social  for 
tunes  and  destiny,  and  far  above  the  measure 
of  physical  comfort  and  prosperity.  When  we 
see  how  slightly  the  laborer  is  prized  in  com 
parison  with  his  work,  it  is  plain  that  we  are 
all  tempted,  by  the  spirit  of  the  time,  to  put  a 
lower  value  upon  ourselves,  as  private  souls, 
than  it  is  our  duty  to  do.  "  How  strange  it  is/7 
said  the  wisest  man  of  Germany,  "that  every 


38 

man  estimates  himself  for  more  than  he  is,  and 
prizes  himself  much  less  than  he  is  worth!" 
He  estimates  what  he  has  gained  and  gathered 
as  something  noble  and  precious,  -  -  the  acci 
dents  that  distinguished  his  lot  from  that  of 
the  majority  of  our  race,  such  as  wealth,  houses, 
barns,  power,  and  stocks :  but  the  heritage  of 
great  spiritual  forces,  -  -  intellect,  will,  and  con 
science,  and  the  opportunity  for  unfolding  these 
and  pledging  them  to  what  is  eternal, — he  es 
teems  as  of  little  moment ;  to  be  acknowledged 
on  Sunday,  and  sacredly  forgotten  Monday 
morning.  Each  one  is  greater  than  the  highest 
material  aims  society  has  before  it.  God  puts 
a  higher  price  upon  each  laborer  that  finishes 
a  screw  for  a  boiler-plate,  than  upon  the  Eoyal 
or  the  Collins  line  of  steamships,  and  all  the 
wealth  they  will  ever  make.  Great  as  are  the 
uses  of  swift  and  cheap  intercommunication, 
the  Infinite  Father  would  destroy  for  ever  every 
railway  in  this  land,  rather  than  see  the  soul 
of  the  most  degraded  Irishman  that  has  worked 
upon  their  embankments,  and  whose  existence 
he  has  accepted,  stricken  finally  from  being. 


39 

Men  would  not  give  liirn  another  shilling  a 
day,  that  he  may  have  more  opportunities  of 
manly  development  in  his  almost  brutal  home ; 
but  God  would  not  sell  him  for  all  the  acres  of 
the  West.  He  will  keep  him  alive  to  be  one 
day  cultivated  and  ennobled  in  soul,  to  feel  the 
embrace  of  Infinite  Love,  and  to  progress  in 
goodness  and  the  knowledge  of  him  for  ever. 
And  if  we  lose  the  sense  of  our  infinite  worth 
in  the  general  estimate  of  the  value  of  society ; 
if  we  fail  to  revere  our  owTn  nature  more  than 
all  outward  successes;  if  we  are  led  to  think 
that  we  are  of  trifling  consequence,  as  souls, 
before  the  gigantic  enterprises  of  our  day,  and 
hold  it  sufficient  that  we  are  stockholders, 
bank-directors,  voters,  and  legislators;  if  we 
spare  no  energies  and  ambition  from  these 
interests  to  devote  to  the  spiritual  relations  of 
our  lives,  —  the  culture  of  intellect,  the  purifi 
cation  of  conscience,  the  devout  study  of  God's 
works,  and  joy  in  his  existence ;  if,  by  reason 
of  the  swift  progress  of  society,  we  are  led 
to  live  as  though  our  destiny  is  attainable 
and  completed  here,  —  we  are  the  slaves  of 


40 


matter,  and  have  parted  with  the  glory  of  our 
state. 

We  talk  of  "  subduing  nature ;  "  and  seem 
ingly,  by  our  vast   enginery    of  science   and 
labor,  we  are  doing  so.     But  it  is  not  certain 
yet.     Satan  often  foils  us  with  our  own  wea 
pons.     Let  us  see  to  it,  that,  in  our  tug  and 
swift  contest  hand  to  hand  with  the  world,  — 
as  in  the  duel  between  Hainlet  and  Laertes  in 
the  play,  -  -  the  deadly  rapier  do  not  pass  over 
to  the  cunning  world-spirit,  and  we  be  slain 
with  the  implement  of  our  fancied  triumph. 
The  only  possible  way  for  us  to  subdue  nature 
is  to  be  men,  and  to  maintain  our  position  as 
higher  than  nature,  and  kindred  with  the  Spi 
rit  that  created  it.     It  is  yet  an  open  question, 
whether  we  are  subduing  nature,  or  whether 
the  world  is  subduing  us.     If  we  do  not  keep 
our  virtue,  our  vigor,  our  manliness,  our  sense 
of  infinite  relations  and  responsibilities,  every 
railway  we  construct,  every  science  we  perfect, 
every  labor-saving  machine  we  invent,  every 
new  comfort,  whose  dominion  we  extend,  be 
comes  our  foe ;  and  the  chains  we  thought  we 


41 

were  flinging  over  the  world  are  thrown  back 
to  bind  us  to  the  earth,  and  make  us  fellows 
with  the  beavers  and  bears,  which  nature  cre 
ates  that  they  may  eat  and  sleep  and  die. 

You,  my  friend,  however  obscure  you  are, 
are  greater  in  capacity  and  in  the  Divine  inten- 
•  tion  than  the  star  you  look  at,  far  off  in  the 
night-heaven.  But,  if  you  do  not  look  upon 
it  in  a  higher  spirit  than  that  from  which  it 
shines ;  if  its  light  does  not  fall  upon  some  lens 
of  reverence,  faith,  and  devoutness  in  your 
soul ;  if  it  does  not  awaken  that  religious  sense 
in  you,  which  makes  you  a  son  of  the  Eternal 
love  and  wisdom  which  hung  it  out  in  space ; 
-  in  its  still  light  and  unbroken  obedience  to 
heavenly  law,  it  is  greater  than  you,  though 
you  detect  its  secrets  by  your  telescope,  mea 
sure  its  bulk,  weigh  it,  and  calculate  its  path ; 
for  it  realizes  all  the  purposes  of  its  creation, 
while  you  have  not  aspired  nor  awakened  to 
yours. 

Every  vice  or  infirmity  is  evidence  of  sub 
jection  to  nature.  If  a  man  needs  wine  to 
make  him  cheerful,  or  if  he  has  an  appetite 


42 

that  clamors  to  be  satiated  with  it ;  if  he  must 
have  opium  or  tea  to  stimulate  him  to  the 
pursuit  of  truth ;  if  he  requires  luxury  to  make 
him  content  with  life,  and  can  see  no  inspiring 
privilege  in  an  existence  that  never  knows  the 
comfort  of  a  fine  parlor  and  the  amenities  of 
cultured  intercourse,  —  he  is,  to  the  extent  of* 
such  weakness  and  craving,  in  bondage  to  the 
physical  realm  he  was  'sent  to  subdue.  Only 
that  man  who  estimates  the  privileges  of  a 
mind  and  conscience  as  the  supreme  blessings 
of  Providence,  and  who  would  prefer  the  know 
ledge  of  more  truth  and  the  attainment  of  more 
virtue,  with  bread  for  his  sustenance,  water  for 
his  drink,  and  the  night-sky  for  his  roof,  to  an 
easier  lot  at  the  cost  of  some  abasement  or 
blighting  of  his  faculties,  can  be  said  to  have 
"  overcome  the  world." 

Hence,  where  there  is  not  a  development  of 
the  higher  energies  of  human  nature,  propor 
tional  to  the  great  physical  achievements  of  a 
people,  "things  get  in  the  saddle,  and  ride 
mankind. "  Where  the  merchant  has  no 
thought  higher  than  his  ships  and  his  ven- 


43 

tures,  they  rule  him :  he  does  not  own  them. 
When  the  capitalist  bends  the  energies  of  his 
genius  to  increase  the  business  and  profits  of 
his  factory,  without  intercalating  any  nobler 
work,  he  is  not  the  lord  of  the  factory,  but  the 
prominent  wheel  of  its  mechanism :  the  steam- 
engine  or  the  dam  carries  his  brain,  his  heart, 
and  will,  as  surely  as  it  keeps  any  band  or 
shuttle  in  motion.  If  the  elegant  woman  lives 
for  the  gaieties  of  fashionable  society,  and  finds 
the  sweetest  satisfaction  in  the  admiration  her 
beauty  excites  and  the  flattery  it  wins,  her 
nature  is  subordinate  to  the  bracelets  and  dia 
monds  she  has  purchased,  and  is  owned  by  the 
silks  and  laces  by  which  so  much  interest  is 
absorbed.  Where  the  mechanic  serves  his 
trade ;  and  the  lawyer  has  no  conception  of  a 
higher  justice,  and  a  supreme  court,  of  whose 
laws  he  is  not  the  expounder,  but  the  sub 
ject;  and  the  preacher  thinks  only  of  the  struc 
ture  of  his  sermons,  his  reputation  or  ease, 
and  does  not  live,  to  the  extent  of  his  ability, 
for  and  in  the  truth  which  he  unfolds,  -  -  they 
are  all  appendages  to  their  occupation,  not 


44 


masters  of  it ;  bond-servants  of  nature,  not  its 
lords. 

Babylon  and  Nineveh,  Greece  and  Kome, 
supposed  that,  when  they  had  risen  from  the 
savage  necessities  of  their  first  estate,  and 
were  surrounded  by  the  trophies  and  appli 
ances  of  their  constructive  genius,  they  had 
conquered  nature ;  but,  as  their  visible  conve 
niences  and  glories  rose,  their  manhood  sank. 
They  had  spent  their  best  days  in  piling  a 
majestic  and  decorated  sepulchre;  and,  when 
its  structure  was  complete,  its  art-stained 
walls  and  frescoed  roof  fell  in  upon  the  shri 
velled  manliness  that  was  left  to  inhabit  it, 
and  smothered  the  little  vitality  that  remained. 

Our  Pilgrim  Fathers,  who,  landing  from  a 
little  barque  that  had  borne  them  away  from 
the  culture  and  civilization  of  Europe  and  the 
past,  stepped  upon  an  ice-ribbed  and  desolate 
shore,  and  there  pitched  their  tent,  and  raised 
their  log-huts,  and  sent  their  hymns  and 
prayers  up  from  reverent  hearts,  so  that  - 

"  The  stars  heard  and  the  sea ! 
And  the  sounding  aisles  of  the  dim  woods  rang 
To  the  anthem  of  the  free,"  — 


45 

they  subdued  nature.  The  comforts  of  their 
former  estate,  the  shelter  of  laws,  the  fellow 
ship  of  men,  could  not  make  them  forget  that 
truth,  and  the  sense  of  God's  approval,  and 
the  achievement  of  the  spiritual  ends  of  life, 
are  the  everlasting  tasks  of  all  true  souls ;  and 
when  they  found  that  all  which  civilization 
had  done  in  the  old  world  did  not  offer  to 
nourish,  but  threatened  to  crush,  their  manli 
ness,  they  came  to  the  wilderness,  to  show  on 
a  background  of  ice,  granite,  and  famine,  that 
the  humble  devotion  to  duty,  the  reverence  for 
right,  and  the  vigorous  will,  make  men  mas 
ters  of  the  world,  and  compel  the  storm-winds, 
the  bleak  shore,  and  the  unstained  forests,  to 
welcome  and  cherish  their  spirit  and  ideas. 

Our  life  does  not  consist  in  the  abundance 
of  the  implements  and  conveniences  we  have 
around  us,  but  in  the  nobleness  and  virtue 
compressed  in  us ;  and  we  cannot  now,  with  all 
our  material  triumphs,  subjugate  the  world, 
unless  we  partake  of  the  spirit  of  our  ancestors, 
and  feel  and  show  our  infinite  superiority. 
Not  in  the  ways  by  which  they  were  compelled 


46 

to  manifest  it,  are  we  called  to  exhibit  it ;  but 
in  a  way  as  hard,  -  -  by  resolute  resistance  to 
all  the  soft  solicitations  of  our  circumstances, 
that  would  make  us  live  in  their  comfortable 
embrace  for  luxury,  physical  enjoyment,  and 
the  world's  applause. 

The  Christian  conception  of  life  vaults  far 
over  the  plane  of  our  industrial  tendencies  and 
civilization.  How  much  direct  help  does  the 
progress  of  science  give  us  to  live  nobly? 
What  influence  could  emanate  from  those  pon 
derous  and  ingenious  machines,  that  were 
borne  along,  the  other  day,  in  honor  of  the 
triumph  of  our  enterprise,  to  help  us  in  the 
wrestle  and  race  of  moral  life?  If  you  are 
worth  a  thousand  dollars,  you  are  richer  than 
old  King  Croesus  was ;  for  with  your  property 
you  can  circumnavigate  the  globe,  which  he 
could  not  do  with  his.  If  you  have  a  hundred 
dollars,  and  will  spend  it  wisely,  you  may  pur 
chase  more  priceless  wealth  than  Lucullus 
could  own;  for  you  may  make  it  bring  you 
almost  the  whole  of  the  permanent  and  eternal 
works  of  literary  genius.  And,  if  you  desire  to 


47 


expend  it  in  other  ways,  you  can  have  more 
people  and  more  forces  your  obsequious  slaves, 
while  it  lasts,  than  any  Sultan  can  command. 
Every  railroad  offers  to  bear  you;  gorgeous 
steamboats  compete  for  the  honor  of  carrying 
you;  splendid  hotels,  near  the  mountains  and 
by  the  loveliest  scenery  of  nature,  send  you 
their  cards  of  invitation,  and  promise  to  obey 
your  orders ;  merchants  endeavor  to  serve  you ; 
stores  vie  with  each  other  in  splendor  for  the 
honor  of  your  entrance;  a  whole  city  strives 
to  do  your  bidding,  till  the  last  cent  of  it  is 
drained. 

And  yet  how  much  aid  does  all  this  conve 
nience  give  you  in  your  secret,  unwhispered 
combat  with  your  appetites,  and  the  conscien 
tious  ordering  of  life?  How  much  strength 
does  the  invention  of  a  new  lever  infuse  into 
your  will  ?  How  will  the  double-cylinder  print 
ing-press  give  you  the  heavenly  wisdom?  By 
what  means  will  the  opening  of  a  new  road  to 
Canada,  though  it  binds  two  nations  in  closer 
amity,  shed  into  your  breast  that  charity  with 
out  wThich  "we  are  but  sounding  brass  and  a 


48 


tinkling  cymbal "  ?  In  what  way  can  the  ex 
tract  of  gas  from  water  kindle  or  intensify  that 
inward  light  without  which  our  souls  are  in  a 
rayless  world  ?  How  can  the  invention  of  the 
"  fire-annihilator "  assist  you  to  quench  the 
flame  of  the  passions  we  are  set  to  subdue? 
There  never  will  be  a  railroad  to  heaven ;  and 
no  engineering  or  science,  but  our  vigorous 
toil,  will  level  the  cliffs  and  pierce  the  ledges 
that  lie  in  that  journey. 

God  helps  society,  as  an  organism,  by  the  ad 
vance  of  science  and  art ;  they  raise  the  plane 
and  widen  the  arena  of  our  public  life;  but 
that  progress  cannot  add  directly  one  per  cent 
of  spiritual  faculty  to  us  as  individuals,  nor 
remove  or  lighten  a  single  problem  that  meets 
us  and  tries  us  as  men.  Above  the  region  of 
physical  civilization  is  the  domain  which  the 
gospel  rules;  and  within  the  circuit  of  our 
wealth  and  comforts  is  the  sphere  of  spiritual 
trial  which  God  and  heaven  survey,  and  where 
our  victory  must  depend,  not  on  our  wealth 
and  station,  but  on  the  clearness  of  our  con 
science  and  the  stoutness  of  our  will. 


49 


Ah !  how  true  is  it,  how  sadly  true  to  many 
of  us,  that  advance  of  wealth  and  comfort  does 
not  lift  us  out  of  our  moral  feebleness,  or  re 
move  us  from  the  siege  of  the  besetting  duties 
that  grow  out  of  our  existence!  Temptation 
and  trial  rise  with  the  flood  of  prosperity  that 
floats  us  into  a  more  elegant  abode ;  the  call  of 
duty  is  no  more  musical  when  our  income  is 
princely  than  when  it  was  slight;  the  same 
passions  gnaw  us  when  we  stand  up  on  the 
pedestal  of  our  ambition,  as  when  we  looked 
at  it  from  below;  the  tongue  is  the  same 
unruly  member,  whether  we  ride  in  a  rail-car 
or  in  a  wagon ;  and  there  is  no  more  breadth 
of  manhood  in  us,  now  that  California  is  our 
province,  and  our  country's  flag  is  reflected  in 
the  Pacific  waves,  than  there  was  when  the 
Rocky  Mountains  were  its  western  ramparts, 
and  the  Ohio  flowed  through  a  silent  wilder 
ness. 

I  speak  these  things,  brethren,  from  the 
suggestions  of  my  own  deepest  experience: 
are  they  not  endorsed  by  yours  ?  How  much 
better  are  you,  how  much  more  vitality  of  will 

7 


50 

and  devotedness  to  duty  have  you,  because  of 
your  advance  in  prosperity,  and  the  influx 
of  general  comfort  in  our  city  the  last  few 
years?  How  much  nobler  men  are  you  for 
those  gas-pipes  that  bloom  nightly  in  flame 
around  our  parlors,  and  the  water  that  gushes 
from  the  generous  lake  into  our  chambers,  and 
the  furnaces  that  banish  from  our  homes  the 
knowledge  of  cold  ?  "We  ought  to  be,  somehow, 
nobler  for  these  things.  They  are  blessings  of 
God's  spreading  mercy  of  civilization,  and  we 
ought  to  be  grateful  for  them.  They  lift  oif 
layer  after  layer  of  the  pressure  of  material 
necessities,  and  give  us  more  leisure  for  the 
pursuit  of  higher  ends.  Think  under  what 
heavier  conditions  virtue  is  demanded  of  the 
poor  than  it  is  asked  of  us.  Is  it  not  right 
that  God  should  expect  nobler  spiritual  results 
from  us,  than  if  we  had  been  appointed  to  rear 
Christian  qualities  amid  the  anxieties  of  con 
stant  physical  toil,  under  the  pressure  and 
pinch  of  poverty,  and  with  the  consciousness 
of  injustice  from  the  world?  Consider  the 
immense  distance  between  the  lot  of  a  wealthy 


51 

merchant  and  an  ordinary  laborer,  and  think 
whether  the  All-seeing  Ruler  may  not  justly 
call  for  something  like  a  corresponding  order 
of  manly  attainment ;  whether  the  apex  of  the 
social  pyramid  should  not  furnish  better  speci 
mens  of  men  than  those  at  its  base.  I  will 
not  stop  to  consider  if  the  fact  corresponds  to 
the  call:  I  will  only  say,  that,  if  we  are  not 
better  with  the  extension  of  our  material 
privileges,  we  are  surely  worse,  -  -  worse  as 
individuals,  because  false  to  greater  privileges ; 
worse  as  communities,  because  we  need  a 
larger  virtue  to  uphold  the  blessings  of  a  com 
plex  civilization  than  that  which  would  be 
sufficient  for  lower  stages  of  social  life.  Amid 
this  vast  network  of  forces  and  comforts,  man 
must  be  more  truly  and  vigorously  man,  in 
order  to  escape  being  a  portion  of  the  sur 
rounding  mechanism,  and  to  stand  out  distinct 
and  eminent  from  the  splendid  social  order  our 
hands  have  raised. 

And  so  the  lesson  of  all  our  triumphs, 
pageants,  and  comforts  is,  that  we  need  more 
reverence  for  duty,  constancy  of  noble  purpose, 


52 


steady  strife  against  temptation,  faith  in  God, 
and  assurance  of  immortality.  These  alone 
can  enable  us  to  maintain  our  manhood,  and  be 
the  lords  of  the  world.  These  alone  can  keep 
off  the  perils  which  beset  every  high  state  of 
social  advancement,  and  which,  thus  far  in  his 
tory,  have  laid  every  cultured  and  wealthy 
nation  low.  A  nation,  whose  men  are  dwin 
dling,  may  be  prosperous  for  a  long  while ;  as 
the  ship  may  sail  swiftly  on  her  course,  headed 
towards  her  harbor,  while  the  crew  she  bears 
are  smitten  with  pestilence,  and  have  begun 
to  die.  But  when  the  storm  comes,  and  stal 
wart  arms  are  needed,  the  shrivelled  mariners 
cannot  do  their  work;  and  she  will  drift  to 
wrong  latitudes,  become  the  prey  of  pirates,  or 
founder  in  the  sea. 

And  for  ourselves,  in  our  most  comfortable 
conditions,  we  need  these  principles  and  hopes. 
We  must  have  them,  if  we  would  be  men,  and 
feel  kindred  to  something  higher  than  our 
houses  and  doubloons ;  we  must  have  them,  if 
we  would  know  how  to  use  our  means  and  pri 
vileges  in  the  service  of  ennobling  things ;  we 


53 

must  have  them,  if,  in  dark  and  troublous 
times,  we  would  have  inward  sustenance  and 
medicine  for  the  affections,  which  soft  couches 
cannot  solace,  nor  money  drug  to  rest.  We 
must  have  them,  if,  when  houses  and  estates  - 
the  world  in  its  beauty  and  cultivation — begin 
to  fade  from  the  dim  sight,  and  the  last  great 
trial  of  our  manliness  and  superiority  to  nature 
is  at  hand,  —  that  trial  before  which  the  majo 
rity  of  men  have  failed,  —  we  would  see  the 
gleaming  shores  of  the  spirit's  everlasting 
country  through  the  mists  of  death,  and  ex 
claim,  "  0  grave !  where  is  thy  victory  ?  0 
death !  where  is  thy  sting  ?  " 

The  hope  and  resource  of  society  and  the 
individual, — the  hope  of  stable  prosperity,  and 
the  resource  of  personal  nobleness, — lie  in  the 
gospel,  and  the  influence  of  the  Saviour's  tri 
umphant  life.  Men  may  ever,  and  properly, 
look  to  science,  industry,  and  art,  to  conquer 
the  material  obstacles  to  social  advancement, 
and  give  the  key  to  material  wealth  and 
power;  but  when  they  feel  the  burdens  and 
obligations  of  a  heavenly  origin,  --and  who  of 


54 

us  does  not  feel  them  often,  and  would  not  feel 
them  more  ?  -  -  when  they  are  conscious  of  the 
stern  conditions  of  virtue  and  inward  triumph ; 
when  they  drag  the  heavy  chain  of  degrading 
habit,  and  feel  the  pressure  of  the  mystery  of 
the  grave;  when,  in  the  spasms  of  a  holy 
shame  or  the  agony  of  doubt,  they  exclaim, 
"0  wretched  man  that  I  am!  who  shall  de 
liver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death?  " —  the 
answer  conies,  not  from  the  forges,  the  looms, 
the  palaces,  the  art-halls  of  civilization:  it 
comes  to  us  —  if  we  get  the  true  and  compe 
tent  answer  —  as  it  did  to  poor,  persecuted, 
triumphant  Paul,  w^ho  sent  it  to  the  believers 
in  imperial  Rome,  and  whence  it  is  wafted  to 
our  souls,  "  I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord !  " 


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APR1 7 198S 

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APR     34  ia»b 

CIRCULATION  D! 


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